These companies develop software for mission-critical applications and systems. Wireless and mobility applications, mainframe development, content delivery and portal development, etc. are some of the software programs developed by them. Besides, c# software is also used in program development. One of many .NET programming languages, c# software is a multi-paradigm programming language and includes different versions namely- C#1.0, C#2.0, C#3.0, C#4.0. It supports a strict Boolean data type and is apt for writing applications for embedded and hosted systems. Widely used in developing website features, this software is economical in processing power and memory requirements. Generating a strong web identity, IT outsourcing services accelerate marketing strategies. Such cost-effective services are offered utilizing the onsite-offshore models.

These are rendered adhering to the demands and requirements of clients. Sophisticated technologies and innovative methods are used in offering such services based upon industry best practices. Several companies offering lucrative software and web based solutions adopt advanced tools and proven methodology for proper execution of their services. This facilitates in attaining a proven track record in the IT industry and in gaining a strong foothold in the market.

Pune is the second largest city in Maharashtra, situated 560 meters above sea level of Deccan Plateau. It is the number one destination for emerging software companies. The growing IT investments had made Pune as an Info Tech Hub and the home of the big software industry in India.

Pune is the eighth largest city in western India. It is around 160 kilometers southeast of the Mumbai state. The town of Pune was existent since 937 A.D. and ruled by the Maranatha Empire. Pune is known as the Oxford of the East and Detroit of India due to the many educational institutions and manufacturing companies. Now, Pune became the top location for IT companies and the highest PC access among families.

The city of Pune has many known IT companies like Tata Technologies, Mahindra British telecom, Wipro, and Infosys.

Tata Technologies Group

Tata Technologies Group is a world leader in providing specialized IT-enabled services and responsible for consultations and product information to their manufacturers. Tata’s customers are the world manufacturers of consumer, aerospace and automotive industries.

Operating companies like INCAT is an independent services company that handles Engineering & Design Services, Products & Information Life Cycle Management, Plant Automation and Customer Relationship Management Systems and Enterprise Solutions. It also provides services such as IBM/Dassault Systemes and Autodesk.

Hence, Tata Technologies iKS, Inc. is providing knowledge-based engineering through e-learning, professional services and trainings for top manufacturing organizations.

Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS)

TCS is an Indian software services and consulting company that provides IT and business process outsourcing ventures. It is Asia’s largest IT firm and the oldest in India established in the year 1968. The company is part of the Tata Group, focusing on financial services, chemicals, energy, telecommunications and the government along with engineering, materials and healthcare.

Tata Consultancy Services Limited is involved in many industries in 2008. These include insurance, high technology banking, telecom and manufacturing. Company expansions continue to grow in Latin America, North America, Eastern Europe and China.

Tech Mahindra Ltd. (TechM)

Tech Mahindra Ltd. is known formerly as MBT or Mahindra British Telecoms. This company is a joint venture of M&M or Mahindra and Mahindra Limited and BT or British Telecommunications PLC. Tech Mahindra Ltd. is the six largest software importer and 2nd largest telecom software provider. A wide array of services from Application Development & Maintenance, IT Strategy and Consulting to Systems Integration, Infrastructure Management &Product Engineering; plus, BPO has been the core strength of the company.

Largest clients include the likes of AT&T, O2, Alcatel-Lucent and BT. The company continues to expand in the major economies of Canada, US, Middle East and Continental Europe.

Wipro Technologies Limited

Wipro Technologies Limited was established as an information technology company in 1980. It is the third largest IT services company in India. They begun to develop its mini computer in 1981 and started developing customized software packages to their hardware clients. Wipro invented their first Indian chip 8086 and began to grow their business in the United States. Wipro Ltd ADRs was listed by 2000 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Wipro has emerged as a multi-corporate and multi-business unit from Infrastructure Engineering, Consumer Products along with IT Products & Services. Among the company’s clients are Compaq, Nokia, Toshiba TEC, Cisco Systems, Symantec, Exel and Emerson Appliance. There is also Goldman Sachs, Sanyo Electric, Fidelity 24/7 and Pacificorp.

Wipro Ltd is spread in over 35 countries with excess revenues of US $5 billion. It became the first IT Services Company SEI CMM Level 5 certified in the global market.

Infosys Technologies Limited

Infosys is a multinational IT services company in Bangalore. It has over 30 offices and 9 development centers with 100,306 professionals. N. R. Narayana Murthy and six others founded the company on July 2, 1981.

Infosys Technologies Limited was rated as the Best Employer by Business Today in India. They also won the Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise for 2003 to 2005 and became one of the global hall of fame awardees. Hewitt Associates also awarded the company as best employer for 2000 to 2002. Infosys is currently having 100 Fortune 500 clients assisted by a growth rate of 1,000 persons per year.

Other IT companies are Veritas Software Inc., Kanbay Inc., Satyam, TCS, Cognizant and PCS. IT parks has led to its construction because of the vast growing software industry in the country. This includes the Magarpatta Cybercity, Rajiv Gandhi IT Park, MIDC Software Technology Park at Talawade, Marisoft IT Park, International Convention Centre (ICC), Kumar Cerebrum IT Park, Weikfield IT Park and others.

Pune’s booming industry has led the way to becoming one of the sought after commercial destinations in India nowadays. They are proud to be one of the few Asian cities marking their name to the field of information technology.

Offshore IT outsourcing companies cover a wide array of IT services, such as software development, proofreading and editing, website design outsourcing India, data conversion, animation, multimedia, search engine optimization, data entry services, and much more. There are countless options to choose from depending upon your business needs.

For companies which do not have in-house IT departments, outsourcing web projects is ideal. They can seek area of specialization related to a number of fields, like software development, online marketing, web maintenance, hardware solutions, etc. They can get access to the latest IT services without the headache of employing a regular IT team.

You can get inexpensive and highly skilled and talented manpower that yields better results through offshore IT outsourcing. It improves overall work efficiency of companies and gives a modern look to their business. Good and well reputed outsourcing companies can provide you advanced and state-of-the-art IT solutions.

In the league of favorite outsourcing countries, developing countries like India, China, Russia, etc are being approached for outsourcing IT services. Likewise, many other smaller countries have also started providing offshore outsourcing to get a share of the profit pie.

Outsourcing web projects to other countries has become the talk of the town and requirement for companies desiring fast growth and development. Users can be well assured that if they hire any good outsourcing company, they will get better services exceeding their expectations. When an organization is in its initial stages of development, quality services are needed while expenses need to be controlled.

Outsourcing has led to a breakthrough in the development of foreign economies. It does not mean that only bigger projects are viable for outsourcing. In fact, individualized works can also be outsourced. India is undoubtedly the leader for IT outsourcing, where there are thousands and thousands of skilled IT professionals performing quality jobs at cheaper prices in comparison to western countries.

These companies are dynamic in their workings keeping themselves updated with the latest changes in technologies and maintaining international levels of standards. They hire employees that are well trained and qualified in the required sector, and those having a strong command over the English language. Sometimes they are even sent to other countries for training to keep themselves well equipped with knowledge. Therefore by weighing all factors surrounding IT outsourcing, it can be concluded that it is a worthwhile strategic move for long-term benefits.

A Software Development company is well versed with the process of software engineering and marketing. There are some procedural steps pursued by software development companies in their approach to develop software applications. The process involves:

• A thorough research for gathering information related to the proposed business solution

• Problem analysis

• Designing and implementation of the software

• Software testing

• Maintenance and bug fixing

Of the above step-by-step procedures, the software design and development stage is the most significant part, as it requires interaction between the software development company and its client.

Software developers must have a clear idea of the needs and requirements of the client. The best software engineers in the industry review the latest trends and then consult with their clients for developing the best in the market. With the expertise of analysts, project managers, lead programmers and software developers, software development companies offer cost-effective software solutions to their clients.

Australia is the Mecca of a majority of IT companies that specialize in web development and software development projects. About 51% of the software development products from Australia are exported to countries like Asia, USA and Europe.

Software companies in Australia have excelled only because of expert developers and analysts who provide quality application development services. Software development in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth has spread their wings in the areas of hotel, banking, tourism, insurance and many others. These companies are equipped with the latest code generation applications and templates which reduce costs and improve quality.

Software companies in Australia also have the expertise in developing customized software. Custom software development process is the procedure of creating software as per the specific needs and requirements of the business. But designing specific software to meet the exact business requirement is not an easy task. It is a challenge which most software companies in Australia readily accept. These companies have their own research team to analyze and study the business and develop software around it. They have the expertise of combining the right programming language and the correct software development model for a successful software development project.

A number of multinationals including IBM, HP, and Satyam have exploited the Australian software industry. There are also many Australian Software development firms engaged in partnerships with global software giants. This has certainly boosted the IT industry in Australia.

Every company is ‘A Leading Company‘. Leading whom in what? Leading a pack of liars in the most broken marketing promises? Hardly ever is specified exactly how a company is leading. Well, some do specify it, but then the outcomes of statistics are what they are chosen to be. And what if a company truly is leading the market with the biggest revenue? Is that really a good sign? In this case Microsoft would be the best IT company there is and it certainly isn‘t. Is stock market share value really an indicator of what this company can do for you? No. It is trader expectations and nothing more. Is a large user base really everything you need? No, because the more users there are, the more requests for changes the vendor has to juggle.

Buying name brand software seems a safe bet for the buyer but is not safe for the business. Name recognition and brands are important but they come at a hefty price tag and have nothing to do with the functionality of the product. With public companies it is easy to see how much money a company is spending for cost of sales. You will find that it is mostly above forty percent of revenue and therefore when you buy a product from this company you obviously pay for its effort to market and sell it. IBM spent billions in 2000 and 2001 to become recognized as a leading e-business solution provider, when they had no product at the time but simply renamed a few old products to the newly created WebSphere brand.

What does actually the term Best-Of-Breed tell you? We used it for a little while too until I felt that it did not describe a functional benefit. It is in fact an admission that all the software of all the vendors of one breed is the same. No wonder that you decide to buy the cheapest.

Open, standard, non-propriatory and plug-and-play software is not desirable, because these properties are of no benefit to you. Open means that you can interface with it, which means a lot of work in coding dependencies. Standard means the software is years old and the vendor had no ideas of his own to sell. Non-proprietary means that everyone else they interface with has the same lack of new ideas. Plug-and-play means that the software can not be adapted to your needs.

Companies that boast huge service departments and consultancy teams are of no benefit to you. These departments are there because you need them and means the software cannot be used without a huge service expenditure. If a software company starts to grow in services more than in software revenue then their software is at the end of its life-cycle.

A long list of partners is a reason to be cautious. Companies that partner with every Tom, Dick and Harry can not stand on their own. Their software is so limited in its solution scope that it brings no benefit if you don‘t buy all the other stuff as well.

The claim of SOA compliant software – don’t get me started on that. It is such a poorly defined term that anyone can claim to be SOA. The idea is good but see my other articles on SOA drawbacks.

The word AGILE should be prohibited when even a single line of Java code has to be used. If you involve a programmer there is no agility.

XML standards are always claimed but a pain in the neck. What is so great about two triangle brackets and a slash? XML is a huge problem because of data size and processing time. I was told by some companies that more than 70% of server time is used for XML validation alone. XML is a monster because of its lack of a metadata concept. You do need many other definition structures to make XML work and once you do that the flexibility that seems so cool when you can read the file goes out the window. If you manage metadata the right way, then message formats are irrelevant.

WebServices is right up there with SOA …

Easily customized, pre-configured and out-of-box is pretty good if it is true. That should mean that the software can be installed and set up in a few days. Don‘t believe it but try it. Once installed ask for certain aspects to be changed to your needs. If that requires programmers to come in then get rid of it as fast as you can.

I have now tried for years to truly understand what IT sells with On-Demand exactly. Sometimes it is a flexible licensing model or charging per use rather than per install. Sometimes it means a flexible deployment model or an outsourced ASP approach. Sometimes it means nothing.

Full Life-cycle is an often misused term as well. It should only be used in terms of application change management. A full life-cycle must provide a complete roundtrip from analysis, modeling, coding, documentation, version controlled deployment, tuning and maintenance without loosing control in intermediate stages or being unable to feed later changes back into the model stage. I have not yet seen a full life-cycle tool that uses Java and XML where intermediate coding is fully reloaded into the model stage and managed there. The same applies to most BPM tools. The models have to be encoded with a lot of Java code that remains separate.

The misuse of the words knowledge and intelligence in IT is appalling: Proactive intelligence alerts, enterprise knowledge databases, and real-time predictive intelligence are no more than pure BS. Knowledge systems are text databases and Business Intelligence is no more than statistical data collection. Knowledge still means nothing else than knowing what-to-do in a given situation and intelligence is clearly defined as the ability to learn by itself. Maybe the intelligence agencies had to reduce that meaning for good reason …

‚We have a repository to store all documents.‘ A repository is not an archive. A repository is an application development tool that more than anything else has to version-control metadata and related source code, ideally over the full life-cycle. A registry on the other hand is just that. A queriable list of entries without further functionality.

I think that this is enough for now. I propose for vendors to be more accurate in what they claim and for buyers to be more prudent. They call me jaded, but I am still standing and fighting.

Outsourcing services has become a common ritual for companies now-a-days. The countries that offer quality IT outsourcing services are approached by companies from different parts of the world. Information technology outsourcing makes day to day business functions simpler, as access to better forms of systems and applications, along with lower prices, is enjoyed with these IT outsourcing companies.

Offshore IT outsourcing companies cover a wide array of IT services, such as software development, proofreading and editing, website design outsourcing India, data conversion, animation, multimedia, search engine optimization, data entry services, and much more. There are countless options to choose from depending upon your business needs.

For companies which do not have in-house IT departments, outsourcing web projects is ideal. They can seek area of specialization related to a number of fields, like software development, online marketing, web maintenance, hardware solutions, etc. They can get access to the latest IT services without the headache of employing a regular IT team.

You can get inexpensive and highly skilled and talented manpower that yields better results through offshore IT outsourcing. It improves overall work efficiency of companies and gives a modern look to their business. Good and well reputed outsourcing companies can provide you advanced and state-of-the-art IT solutions.

In the league of favorite outsourcing countries, developing countries like India, China, Russia, etc are being approached for outsourcing IT services. Likewise, many other smaller countries have also started providing offshore outsourcing to get a share of the profit pie.

Outsourcing web projects to other countries has become the talk of the town and requirement for companies desiring fast growth and development. Users can be well assured that if they hire any good outsourcing company, they will get better services exceeding their expectations. When an organization is in its initial stages of development, quality services are needed while expenses need to be controlled.

Outsourcing has led to a breakthrough in the development of foreign economies. It does not mean that only bigger projects are viable for outsourcing. In fact, individualized works can also be outsourced. India is undoubtedly the leader for IT outsourcing, where there are thousands and thousands of skilled IT professionals performing quality jobs at cheaper prices in comparison to western countries.

These companies are dynamic in their workings keeping themselves updated with the latest changes in technologies and maintaining international levels of standards. They hire employees that are well trained and qualified in the required sector, and those having a strong command over the English language. Sometimes they are even sent to other countries for training to keep themselves well equipped with knowledge. Therefore by weighing all factors surrounding IT outsourcing, it can be concluded that it is a worthwhile strategic move for long-term benefits.

Copyright © 2008

We have gotten past the dizzying array of Internet product introductions, but the pace of technology introduction has again returned to robust levels. Any large company that feels it can keep pace with this force through internal development efforts alone is headed down the path of extinction.

Almost everyone will agree that information technology will be a primary driver of controlling costs in U.S. industry. Technology is our answer to remaining competitive in this world economy. A great deal of the technology development is coming from small, entrepreneurial, nimble, low overhead companies.

There is, however, a huge paradox in the market. The institutional buyers of technology are relatively conservative late adapters. This prevents the expected innovation and commercial success that should naturally follow the innovation and passion of these small technology innovators.

These entrepreneurs respond to a market need and achieve encouraging initial success from the early adopters. They soon hit the wall and are not able to “cross the chasm” from a small group of early adaptors to general market acceptance from the conservative majority. There is little economic value created when good technology is in the control or a failing company and the technology never reaches broad acceptance.

Most of the blockbuster new products are the result of an entrepreneurial effort from an early stage company bootstrapping its growth in a very cost conscious lean environment. Think of some of the new developments from companies like Google. The big companies, with all their seeming advantages have a very high internal cost structure for new product introductions and the losses resulting from those failures are substantial.

Don’t get me wrong, there were hundreds of failures from the start-ups as well. However, the failure for the edgy little start-up resulted in losses in the $1 – $5 million range. The same result from an industry giant were often in the $100 million to $250 million range.

For every Yahoo or Ebay there are literally hundreds of companies that either flame out or never reach a critical mass beyond a loyal early adapter market. It seems like the mentality of these smaller business owners is, using the example of the popular TV show, Deal or No Deal, to hold out for the $1 million briefcase. What about that logical contestant that objectively weighs the facts and the odds and cashes out for $280,000?

As we contemplated the dynamics of this market, we were drawn to a merger and acquisition model that is used in the networking technology market by Cisco Systems. We believe that model could also be applied to great advantage in the Information Technology industry. The giant networking company, is a serial acquirer of companies. They do a tremendous amount of R&D and organic product development. They recognize, however, that they cannot possibly capture all the new developments in this rapidly changing field through internal development alone.

Cisco seeks out investments in promising, small, technology companies and this approach has been a key element in their market dominance. They bring what we refer to as smart money to the high tech entrepreneur. They purchase a minority stake in the early stage company with a call option on acquiring the remainder at a later date with an agreed-upon valuation multiple. This structure is a brilliantly elegant method to dramatically enhance the risk reward profile of new product introduction. Here is why:

For the Entrepreneur:

1. The involvement of Large IT Investor – resources, market presence, brand, distribution capability is a self fulfilling prophecy to your product’s success. The halo of the big secure company helps you cross the chasm to the conservative majority institutional customer.

2. For the same level of dilution that an entrepreneur would get from a venture capital, angel investor or private equity group, the entrepreneur gets the performance leverage of “smart money.” See #1.

3. The entrepreneur gets to grow his business with Large IT Investor’s support at a far more rapid pace than he could alone. He is more likely to establish the critical mass needed for market leadership within his industry’s brief window of opportunity.

4. He gets an exit strategy with an established valuation metric while the buyer/investor helps him make his exit much more lucrative.

5. As an old Wharton professor used to ask, “What would you rather have, all of a grape or part of a watermelon?” That sums it up pretty well. The involvement of Large IT Investor gives the product a much better probability of growing significantly. The entrepreneur will own a meaningful portion of a far bigger asset.

For the Large IT Investor:

1. Create access to a large funnel of developing technology and products.

2. Creates a very nimble, market sensitive, product development or R&D arm.

3. Minor resource allocation to the autonomous operator during his “skunk works” market proving development stage.

4. Diversify their product development portfolio – because this approach provides for a relatively small investment in a greater number of opportunities fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit, they greatly improve the probability of creating a winner.

5. By investing early and getting an equity position in a small company and favorable valuation metrics on the call option, they pay a fraction of the market price to what they would have to pay if they acquired the company once the product had proven successful.

Computers are machines that work on data according to the list of instructions. Early electronic computers consume much power. Modern computers, on the other hand, are based on tiny integrated circuits. Nowadays, simple computers can be made to fit in a wristwatch and powered by watch batteries.

Generally, a computer has four main sections such as the ALU or the arithmetic and logic unit, the memory, the control unit and the IO or the input and output devices. The basic input and output, control unit, register and control units are known as the CPU or central processing unit. Early central processing units were composed of numerous circuits but now it is typically assembled on a single integrated circuit known as a microprocessor.

The Arithmetic or Logic Unit (ALU) is capable of executing two modules of operation such as logic and arithmetic. Some computers are capable of executing easier operations that can be programmed to break the complex operations, making them into easy executable steps. Hence, a Superscalar computer has multiple arithmetic or logic units.

There are numerous computer companies around the world. One of this is the Yemen Computer Company. It is the main and pioneer company of Yemen. It is the most experienced and the largest computer company in this country.

Furthermore, this Yemen based company is a computer software and hardware vendor or distributor. It also represents Intel servers, IBM products, Sun Microsystems products and POS products. It also caters to ATM products, Satellite Communication products as well as their related support supplies and systems.

The company is also associated with numerous software houses in order to provide the needs of commercial, trading, public utilities, airlines and telecommunication along with banking sectors. Yemen Computer Company has several headquarters located in Yemen. This would be in Mukalla, Hodeidah, Taiz, Aden and Sana.

Tactical Computer Company is the leading cutting edge software development company. This Ohio based company offers services such as Custom Software Development, Custom Web Solution, Emerging Technologies, Lost Password Recovery and Online Commerce as well as Internet Site Development, Database Design and Integration, Security and Firewall Specialists.

Ormond Computer Company is an Information Technology department for companies that do not have an in-house and full time Information Department. It can also be for those with only a small Information Technology that needs outside assistance. The company technicians can build and design your workstation or server. All Custom Built Systems of the company are built with premier quality components.

Helix Computer Company is based in Indiana. The goal of the company is to provide quality services and products to their consumer. The company has services such as Custom Built Computers, Video and Audio Production Services, Photography and Design Services. This is along with Website Design and Marketing Services, Computer Services and Repair.

Helix Computer company can build turn-key computer systems for numerous applications. The Company production studio was constructed with a self-sufficient artist in mind. Helix production studios are capable of making videos, audios, graphics, animation and so much more.

Computers may be quite expensive but you can scout for refurbished ones such as Dell Computers that can collect their old model computers while still be installed with the latest technology. This model is great and affordable in budget terms.

Sometimes a basic computer may be enough for your needs. The bare bones model is also great if you only check e-mails, word processes and surf the Internet. Dell retails basic models for less than 500 US dollars. This basic system is a good deal for common users.

That was fun. What energy. It kind of reminded me of the old dot com days. Lots of money, talent, ideas, hope, energy, and potential successful businesses. This is the innovation environment in HIT and any large company that feels it can keep pace with this force through internal development efforts alone is headed down the path of extinction.

Almost everyone will agree that information technology will be a primary driver of controlling costs in the healthcare industry. There is, however, a huge paradox in this market. The institutional buyers of that technology are relatively conservative late adapters. This prevents the expected innovation and commercial success that should naturally follow the resources and passion of these HIMSS innovators.

These entrepreneurs respond to a market need and achieve encouraging initial success from the early adopters. They soon hit the wall and are not able to “cross the chasm” from a small group of early adaptors to general market acceptance from the conservative majority. There is little economic value created when good technology is in the control or a failing company and the technology never reaches broad acceptance.

Most of the blockbuster new products are the result of an entrepreneurial effort from an early stage company bootstrapping its growth in a very cost conscious lean environment. Think of some of the new developments from PACS companies. The big companies, with all their seeming advantages have a very high internal cost structure for new product introductions and the losses resulting from those failures are substantial. Don’t get me wrong, there were hundreds of failures from the start-ups as well. However, the failure for the edgy little start-up resulted in losses in the $1 – $5 million range. The same result from an industry giant were often in the $100 million to $250 million range.

For every IDX or eMerge there are literally hundreds of companies that either flame out or never reach a critical mass beyond a loyal early adapter market. It seems like the mentality of these smaller business owners is, using the example of the popular TV show, Deal or No Deal, to hold out for the $1 million briefcase. What about that logical contestant that objectively weighs the facts and the odds and cashes out for $280,000?

As we contemplated the dynamics of this market, we were drawn to a merger and acquisition model that is used in the networking technology market by Cisco Systems. We believe that model could also be applied to great advantage in the Healthcare Information Technology industry. The giant networking company, is a serial acquirer of companies. They do a tremendous amount of R&D and organic product development. They recognize, however, that they cannot possibly capture all the new developments in this rapidly changing field through internal development alone.
Cisco seeks out investments in promising, small, technology companies and this approach has been a key element in their market dominance. They bring what we refer to as smart money to the high tech entrepreneur. They purchase a minority stake in the early stage company with a call option on acquiring the remainder at a later date with an agreed-upon valuation multiple. This structure is a brilliantly elegant method to dramatically enhance the risk reward profile of new product introduction. Here is why:

For the Entrepreneur:

1. The involvement of Large HIT Investor – resources, market presence, brand, distribution capability is a self fulfilling prophecy to your product’s success. The halo of the big secure company helps you cross the chasm to the conservative majority institutional customer.
2. For the same level of dilution that an entrepreneur would get from a VC, angel investor or private equity group, the entrepreneur gets the performance leverage of “smart money.” See #1.
3. The entrepreneur gets to grow his business with Large HIT Investor’s support at a far more rapid pace than he could alone. He is more likely to establish the critical mass needed for market leadership within his industry’s brief window of opportunity.
4. He gets an exit strategy with an established valuation metric while the buyer/investor helps him make his exit much more lucrative.
5. As an old Wharton professor used to ask, “What would you rather have, all of a grape or part of a watermelon?” That sums it up pretty well. The involvement of Large HIT Investor gives the product a much better probability of growing significantly. The entrepreneur will own a meaningful portion of a far bigger asset.

For the Large HIT Investor:

1. Create access to a large funnel of developing technology and products.
2. Creates a very nimble, market sensitive, product development or R&D arm.
3. Minor resource allocation to the autonomous operator during his “skunk works” market proving development stage.
4. Diversify their product development portfolio – because this approach provides for a relatively small investment in a greater number of opportunities fueled by the entrepreneurial spirit, they greatly improve the probability of creating a winner.
5. By investing early and getting an equity position in a small company and favorable valuation metrics on the call option, they pay a fraction of the market price to what they would have to pay if they acquired the company once the product had proven successful.

These successful transactions can benefit the small entrepreneurial firm looking for the “smart money” investment with the appropriate growth partner. At the same time benefitting the large industry player looking to enhance their new product strategy with this creative approach. This model has successfully served the technology industry through periods of outstanding growth and market value creation. Many of the same dynamics are present in the Healthcare Information Technology industry and these same transaction structures can be similarly employed to create value.

10. Failure to register a federal copyright for company-developed software

Your company has spent months, and maybe years developing the next-big-thing. You’re out there licensing it to customers, fighting off competitors, and trying to maximize your revenues. What would you do if a customer was misusing your software? What if a competitor was copying parts of it to use in its product? There are various ways to respond to these problems, but one of the easiest to way to strengthen your claims is to register a copyright for the software with the United States Copyright Office. Registration provides you with an enhanced ability to have a court prevent infringing use of your software, and a greater amount of damages that are recoverable. The best part is that registration is relatively easy and inexpensive.

9. Licensing technology too broadly

So you’ve landed that big deal with that big customer. You’ve carefully priced the deal based upon your expectations of how the customer is going to use your technology – by a specific group within the customer’s large organization. You’re hoping that the success of this deal will lead to a greater adoption of your technology within the rest of the company, and ultimately more revenue for you. Unfortunately, you later learn that this one group is sharing your technology throughout the rest of the company, with no additional license fees to you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Why? By failing to carefully and narrowly draw up the license grant in your agreement, you’ve unwittingly granted the entire company the rights to use your technology, and you’ve left a pile of cash on the table.

8. Failure to provide detailed support and maintenance policies

Too often, once a company’s technology is ready to be licensed, determining how to support the technology becomes an afterthought. General and non-descriptive obligations like “providing telephone and email support” and “providing updates” are invitations for disagreements and missed expectations. When is phone support being offered? How quickly will you respond to problems? What is considered and update and what is a new product for which you would charge the customer separately? Many times, you need your customer to provide you with certain information about the problem before you can diagnose and fix it. Set the appropriate expectations in your support and maintenance policies and avoid these issues in the future.

7. Not contracting customers to recurring support fees

Customers want and expect that you will be there to support your product, assist with problems, and provide them updates when you add features or fix bugs. Customers also expect that you will regularly charge them for these services, so why do so many technology vendors sell a product to a customer and fail to structure regular and recurring support fees? In general, a technology vendor’s highest profit margins are realized through a support fee stream, and not in the upfront license charge.

6. Inadequate non-disclosure and non-compete agreements with employees and contractors

The technology business is one of the most competitive industries in the market. Why take a chance losing your competitive advantage by not ensuring that your intellectual property, customer lists, trade secrets, and other sensitive information are properly protected through appropriate agreements with your employees, contractors, and vendors? Finding and using some form agreement that you saw floating around on the Internet somewhere may actually make matters worse if you don’t fully understand the terms. Moreover, simple steps can be taken to ensure that anything developed by your employees is, and remains, your company’s property.

5. Giving away intellectual property ownership too liberally

Many technology companies develop customized technology for their customers, or make customized modifications to their existing technology on behalf of a particular customer. And most customers argue that if they’re paying for it, they want to own it. But giving away your company’s intellectual property in these instances can prevent you from reusing it for other customers – effectively shutting down a potential source of revenue in the future. And many times, your customers may not need to actually “own” the developments – a license right can often do the trick.

4. Using overly broad or subjective acceptance testing

It is not uncommon or unreasonable for customers to want to “kick the tires” of your technology before they pay for it. Problems arise when the customer has an unreasonable expectation of what the technology is supposed to achieve, and either want to withhold payment, or force you to provide extra services to meet that unreasonable expectation. This especially manifests itself when a customer includes acceptance testing language in a contract which is not tied to objective and realistic standards. Although it can be a laborious effort, taking the time to objectify these standards with the customer in the contract can save you significant time down the road, and get you paid faster.

3. Offering liberal source code escrow release conditions

For software developers, you know that your source code is the “crown jewels” of your business. It is the core of your technology, representing months or years of your blood, sweat, and tears. Yet many software companies are willing to give it away, for free, to their customers. How? By entering into a source code escrow agreement with a customer and allowing it to be released to them in situations where the code still holds value for you. Many customers will demand the source code be released to them if you stop supporting the software, but the intellectual property in the code may still be used in your other products or technology, effectively giving your customer the tools it needs to duplicate your technology. Creating very narrow and specific source code release conditions can minimize this impact.

2. Undervaluing technology

What is your technology worth? It’s a difficult question, and value can be measured and determined in many ways. Many new technology companies feel compelled to undercharge for their technology in an effort to break into the market. Although there is certainly some merit in that, I see vendors consistently undervaluing what their technology is worth, leaving significant revenue on the table. Understanding the impact and loss to the customer if they DON’T license your technology is the first key to pricing your product. Plus, under-pricing your product can create an impression that the technology is “cheap” – not a label that will build a positive reputation of your company in the long run.

1. Using a form license and/or services agreement that doesn’t fit your business model

Capturing exactly how you want to provide your product or services to your customer, allocating the risks, and creating each party’s obligations and rights, is not a simple or quick process. Replicating some other company’s form agreement not only exposes you to risks that you may not be aware of, but potentially violates the other company’s copyright in their agreement, and raises the risks outlined in the other points of this list. Having a customized agreement created for you that aligns with your business processes, mitigates your risks, and addresses the laws that apply in your jurisdiction for your industry is a key component in running a successful technology business.